Nonresident
You are a New York State nonresident if you were not a resident of New York
State for any part of the year. If you file Form 1040NR (federal
nonresident), you could file as a nonresident of New York by claiming that you
do not maintain a permanent place of abode in New York and that you are
only in New York for a particular purpose during a
temporary period. If you file as a federal tax resident (Form 1040), but
you are on a temporary work visa in the U.S., the New York Tax Department will
generally take the position that you maintain a permanent place of abode in New
York. In such case, I recommend that you file as a state tax resident. You
may still take the position that you are a nonresident, but your chance of audit
or a tax return adjustment is high.

ResidentYou are a New York State resident for income tax purposes if:
• Your domicile is not New York State but you maintain a permanent place of
abode in New York State for more than 11 months of the year and spend 184 days
or more (any part of a day is a day for this purpose) in New York State during
the tax year. (In this instance, you must file Form IT-201, Resident Income Tax
Return.) Note: If you maintain a permanent place of abode in New York
State but are claiming to be a nonresident for tax purposes, you must be able to
provide adequate records to substantiate that you did not spend more than 183
days of the tax year in New York State. There are exceptions for members
of the armed forces; or
• Your domicile is New York State. However, even if your domicile is New York,
you are not a resident if you meet all three of the conditions in either Group A
or Group B as follows:
Group A
1) You did not maintain any permanent place of abode in New York State during
the tax year; and
2) You maintained a permanent place of abode outside New York State during the
entire tax year; and
3) You spent 30 days or less (any part of a day is a day for this purpose) in
New York State during the tax year.
Group B1) You were in a foreign country for at least 450 days (any part of a day is
a day for this purpose) during any period of 548 consecutive days; and
2) You, your spouse (unless legally separated), and minor children spent 90 days
or less (any part of a day is a day for this purpose) in New York State during
this 548-day period; and
3) During the nonresident portion of the tax year in which the 548‑day period
begins, and during the nonresident portion of the tax year in which the 548‑day
period ends, you were present in New York State for no more than the number of
days which bears the same ratio to 90 as the number of days in such portion of
the tax year bears to 548. The following formula illustrates this condition:

Number of days in the
Maximum number nonresident portion × 90
= of days allowed
548
in New York State

Domicile is defined as your permanent home, the place you always intend to
return to, regardless of where you may be at the present time. For a person in
the U.S. on a temporary visa, domicile is usually their home country. You can
have only one domicile.

A
place of abode (apartment or house) is not permanent if you maintain it only
during a temporary or limited period of time for the accomplishment of a
particular purpose.

Part-year residentYou are a New York State part-year resident if you meet the definition of
resident or nonresident for only part of the year

The difference in tax between filing
as nonresident vs. resident

As a resident, you pay state and city tax on all
your income. As a non-resident, you only pay tax on New York source income,
which includes earnings from work physically performed in New York State, and
income from real property. You are not liable for city tax. Generally, if you
live in New York City, you will have city tax withheld from each paycheck (as
reported on the W-2), which is why you may receive a much larger tax refund
(getting all or most of the city tax back) if you file as a nonresident.